Actress Yvette Nicole Brown is leaving her role on cult TV comedy Community in order to care for her ailing father. Brown has played Shirley Bennett on the series since 2009, but she announced on Tuesday (30Sep14) that she will not be joining her fellow castmates for the upcoming sixth season, and requested to be released from her contract to focus on caring for her sick dad.
She tells TV Guide Magazine, "My dad needs daily care and he needs me. The idea of being away 16 hours a day for five months, I couldn't do it. It was a difficult decision for me to make, but I had to choose my dad.
"I can't say enough how much I respect Sony and (executive producer) Dan (Harmon) for how they handled this profound change in my life... I'm still Community's biggest fan... It's very bittersweet. I can take care of my dad but won't be with my TV family. I don't want the fans to worry; it's going to be fine."
Brown is also currently working on the remake of classic sitcom The Odd Couple, starring Matthew Perry.
Meanwhile, Community stars including Joel McHale, Alison Brie and Ken Jeong are all slated to return for the show's sixth season, which will stream on Yahoo! Screen, after it was cancelled by bosses at America's NBC network after five seasons.

YouTube/The Young Turks
Spent: Looking for Change wants to have an uncomfortable conversation. The new documentary from director Derek Doneen and producer Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth, Waiting for Superman) shines a light on the "Underbanked", the 70 million Americans across the country who are not being served by traditional banking institutions, and must turn to check cashing services or pay day loans. Unfortunately, these services often have dire financial consequences. At a press conference for the film, Doneen, Tyler Perry (who narrates Spent), New School Professor Lisa Servon, and Dan Schulman of American Express discussed the challenges facing the "underbanked," the possible solutions to a financial system in grievous disrepair, and how education might the first step in the right direction.
Proper financial management is a skill so few of us have. Many of the issues depicted in the film stem from a lack of knowledge of the financial system.
Tyler Perry: "I think [financial hardships affect] the children of parents who are experiencing this, if they understood how the system works, and how when you’re outside of it it can be very difficult. Because no one taught me credit or check cashing or pay day loans, it was just the norm in the neighborhood. This is what you do. Growing up with us, you didn’t go to the bank, you went to the check cash. You went to the corner, you cash your check with Mr. Johnson down there, he took his money, he gave you yours. So [we need] to have an education to let people know that there is a cost, a very high cost, outside of the system."
Unfortunately, with the stigmas instituted by our capitalistic society, this ignorance often leads to shame.
Lisa Servon: "There’s a lot of shame around money. I talked a little with Alex, Melissa, and Debbie [the subjects of the documentary] before the show. We’re kind of made, societally, to feel like it’s our fault if we don’t have six months of savings, if we can’t make ends meet, if we somehow can’t pay the bills. So I think there’s a lot of inhibition about getting out there and saying that this is a real problem."
More Americans are being affected by the bank system than we realize.
Dan Schulman: "Forty-five percent of Americans who earn between $50,000 and $150,000 spend all or more of their monthly income every single month. So, there’s a huge opportunity here to redefine the system."
Lisa Servon: "I have actually started not liking the term 'unbanked' or 'underbanked' so much, because I think if you are part of the 99 percent, which I am, we’re all underbanked. The fact is, I can absorb a $35 overdraft fee, and people who are living right on the edge can’t. So this is why, I think, Alex and Melissa stopped using the bank. you saw those overdraft fees mounting up. It cost them more to use the bank than to use a check casher. So people are kind of saying, 'I can’t afford to go over.' At least when I go to the check casher, I get my check, I cash it, I look at what my bills are. I figure out who’s least likely to cut me off, so I’ll pay half of my Con Edison bill and three quarters of my phone bill and hopefully it will work out, but I’m not going to overdraft because this is all the money that I have."
Reform in the bank system might be closer than we realize, and one of the first steps is education.
Lisa Servon: "I think we may be at a moment of creative destruction with respect to financial services and that we are on the brink of seeing some really innovative solutions. There’s a tendency for us to just throw up our hands about banks and say, frankly, it’s just not in their business model to serve people they don’t make money on. And yet there is a history of policy and legislation, and one of the things that we can ask legislators who are sending out press releases to do is to hold banks’ feet to the fire."
"We all live in New York City. We’ve all seen the A, B, and C in restaurant windows – I think we should do that for banks and check cashers and credit unions. I don’t know if Chase or Citi Bank is better for me, but I want to know if they’re going to cost me more. Are they aligning with my values? If we could create a scorecard that would allow that to happen, I think banks would be a little more responsive."
Dan Schulman: "One of the things that we’re doing, if you go to Spentmovie.com, is that we’re going to a town in Mississippi called Clarksdale. It’s down on its luck. Fifty percent of the population is underserved. What we’re doing is working with two non-profits. We’re putting in free Wi-Fi into the whole town, and we’re going into the high schools to educate high school students in the economics classes about financial wellness and health. Then, what we’re hoping to have [is] an outside third party monitor, because it really makes a difference, all of this education and technology and people caring about this... I think it is a combination of having technology but also having the understanding of what it means to be financially well."
Spent: Looking For Change is available to stream on Spentmovie.com.
Follow @Hollywood_com
//
Follow @CurrentlyJordan
//

NBC
And with one last cafeteria dance party, Greendale has once again been saved, and Community has almost reached its ultimate goal of six seasons and a movie.
But the group’s hard-earned victory felt somewhat hollow, and the fifth season was brought to a close in a particularly lackluster way. Despite last week’s episode, “Basic Story” setting up a slightly different, more interesting take on the idea of the study group contemplating moving on and growing up, the finale threw all of those developments out the window for what turned out to be their most formulaic adventure yet. In fact, lackluster the best way to sum up season five as a whole, which got off to a great start, but seemed to fall flat after losing Troy and Pierce.
Since “Basic Sandwich” brings to a close a season surrounded by controversy and media attention, it seems only fair to look back on all of the episodes to see what worked, what didn’t and what we think Community can improve in the event that get the season we’ve been waiting for.
Worked: Duncan and Hickey The loss of Troy and Pierce left the study group somewhat off-balance, but Duncan and Hickey were the ideal replacements for two of the gang’s most important members. Like Donald Glover, John Oliver has the ability to deliver almost every punch line perfectly, and so he’s given this season some of its best and weirdest jokes. Jonathan Banks has also made a great addition to the group, giving their adventures some edge and playing the “grumpy older man” role with hilarious results. We’re not sure if they’ll be back next year, as both are committed to other series, but we sincerely hope they are. After all, we still need to find out how Hickey’s gay son’s wedding went.
Didn’t Work: The Finale The fifth season kicked off with “Repilot,” which allowed the show to start over again from a fresh, new perspective, which is why it makes no sense for the show to end on another push of the reset button. What’s the point of setting up interesting storylines or putting the characters through major changes of everything’s going to be wiped away at the end of the season with some Dave Matthews Band? The whole point of this season was to rebuild the show after the “gas leak,” and so ending up at the same place we started essentially renders everything that happened this year pointless.
Worked: Abed Abed was by far the MVP of Season 5, and his combination of meta commentary and heart gave the show some much-needed life this year. Between his heartbreaking goodbye to Troy and his long, rambling monologue about Britta and Jeff’s spinoff in “Basic Sandwich,” Abed continues to be one of the show’s strengths, and he has truly become the heart and soul of Community. Plus, he does the best Nicolas Cage impression we’ve ever set eyes on.
Didn’t Work: Lack of Shirley Her relationships with the other members of the study group have given the show some of its best episodes and most iconic moments, but the fifth season of Community saw Shirley shunted to the side in favor of the other characters. She never once received a story line of her own, and all of the things we’ve learned about her over the years – her devotion to her family, her dedication to her business, her secret foosball past – were touched upon at all this year. It’s not enough to simply reference her lack of screen time. You need to actually give her some more attention in order for it to work.
Worked: Higher Stakes This year’s highlights came whenever the characters dealt with big issues: the loss of two of their own, the threat of mortality, life turning out differently than they expected, and having to leave behind their safety net. These stories provided the funniest moments and the cleverest parodies and gave the fifth season some much needed weight. We’re hoping the writers will bring keep exploring bigger issues in the sixth season, as everything gets a little more serious now that the study group understand what failure in the real world feels like.
Didn’t Work: Jeff/Annie/Britta Look, we don’t care if he dates Britta, Annie, both or neither, but the show needs to either follow through with this plot or let it go completely. We can’t suffer through any more of Jeff and Annie pining over each other, and while we love Britta and Jeff’s bickering, their fake-out attempts at a relationship are losing their charm. Pick a direction and stick with it, and please, spare us all any more will-they-or-won’t-they-is-this-a-love-triangle-or-are-they-all-just-friends nonsense.
Only Kind of Worked: Season 4 Bashing We get it: Dan Harmon hates Season 4. It’s understandable. But while we loved the small references to the issues everyone had with those episodes, much of this season felt like Harmon was just attempting to prove how much better he is at running Community than everyone else. The parody episodes felt less like homages than an opportunity to showcase how much better his references were, and many of the characters’ plots felt like a deliberate attempt to undo everything the show runners of season four came up with. Now that we’ve all made peace with the past, how about we just look forward for season six, and allow everyone to just move on. (We're still on board with the gas leak idea, though.)
Still Doesn’t Work No Matter How Hard We Try: Chang Ken Jeong still has some brilliant moments, but Chang hasn’t felt like an organic part of the show since he was fired way back in season one. He flip-flops back and forth between good and evil as the story requires, but he doesn’t’ add anything to the show. If the writers can’t figure out a decent story for him for the next season, it might be best to just reduce his role to a recurring one, so that we get all of the best parts of Chang without him wearing out his welcome. Or just give him and Garret a spinoff. We’d watch every episode of that.
Follow @hollywood_com
//
Follow @julesemm
//

DreamWorks
For the bulk of every Rocky and Bullwinkle episode, moose and squirrel would engage in high concept escapades that satirized geopolitics, contemporary cinema, and the very fabrics of the human condition. With all of that to work with, there's no excuse for why the pair and their Soviet nemeses haven't gotten a decent movie adaptation. But the ingenious Mr. Peabody and his faithful boy Sherman are another story, intercut between Rocky and Bullwinkle segments to teach kids brief history lessons and toss in a nearly lethal dose of puns. Their stories and relationship were much simpler, which means that bringing their shtick to the big screen would entail a lot more invention — always risky when you're dealing with precious material.
For the most part, Mr. Peabody &amp; Sherman handles the regeneration of its heroes aptly, allowing for emotionally substance in their unique father-son relationship and all the difficulties inherent therein. The story is no subtle metaphor for the difficulties surrounding gay adoption, with society decreeing that a dog, no matter how hyper-intelligent, cannot be a suitable father. The central plot has Peabody hosting a party for a disapproving child services agent and the parents of a young girl with whom 7-year-old Sherman had a schoolyard spat, all in order to prove himself a suitable dad. Of course, the WABAC comes into play when the tots take it for a spin, forcing Peabody to rush to their rescue.
Getting down to personals, we also see the left brain-heavy Peabody struggle with being father Sherman deserves. The bulk of the emotional marks are hit as we learn just how much Peabody cares for Sherman, and just how hard it has been to accept that his only family is growing up and changing.
DreamWorks
But more successful than the new is the film's handling of the old — the material that Peabody and Sherman purists will adore. They travel back in time via the WABAC Machine to Ancient Egypt, the Renaissance, and the Trojan War, and 18th Century France, explaining the cultural backdrop and historical significance of the settings and characters they happen upon, all with that irreverent (but no longer racist) flare that the old cartoons enjoyed. And oh... the puns.
Mr. Peabody &amp; Sherman is a f**king treasure trove of some of the most amazingly bad puns in recent cinema. This effort alone will leave you in awe.
The film does unravel in its final act, bringing the science-fiction of time travel a little too close to the forefront and dropping the ball on a good deal of its emotional groundwork. What seemed to be substantial building blocks do not pay off in the way we might, as scholars of animated family cinema, have anticipated, leaving the movie with an unfinished feeling.
But all in all, it's a bright, compassionate, reasonably educational, and occasionally funny if not altogether worthy tribute to an old favorite. And since we don't have our own WABAC machine to return to a time of regularly scheduled Peabody and Sherman cartoons, this will do okay for now.
If nothing else, it's worth your time for the puns.
3/5
Follow @Michael Arbeiter
//
| Follow @Hollywood_com
//

WENNThe BRIT Awards may no longer be the must-see event it was in the 90s, but it's still by far the British music industry's biggest night. Here's a look at the list of this year's nominees and the acts who should perhaps start preparing their acceptance speeches ready for February 19. British Male Solo ArtistDavid Bowie, Jake Bugg, James Blake, John Newman, Tom OdellConsidering the BRITs' reputation for awarding sales over talent, it's surprising but pleasing to see that both Gary Barlow and Robbie Williams have been snubbed here. The panel may want to justify giving New Boring singer-songwriter Tom Odell the Critics Choice award last year, but there would surely be an outcry if David Bowie didn't get the sentimental vote and pick up his first BRIT in nearly 30 years.Who Will Win: David BowieWho Should Win: David BowieBritish Female Solo ArtistBirdy, Ellie Goulding, Jessie J, Laura Marling, Laura MvulaLaura Marling surprised everyone by pipping Ellie Goulding to this award in 2011 but considering the latter's triumphant twelve months, it's difficult to see her doing the same this year. Just as long as the caterwauling Jessie J doesn’t get her hands on it.Who Will Win: Ellie GouldingWho Should Win: Laura MvulaBritish GroupArctic Monkeys, Bastille, Disclosure, One Direction, RudimentalIt’s encouraging to see the BRITs recognise two of the year's best commercial dance acts in this category, but British Group almost always goes to a guitar band so Arctic Monkeys are almost certain to add to their tally of five.Who Will Win: Arctic MonkeysWho Should Win: DisclosureBritish Breakthrough ActBastille, Disclosure, Laura Mvula, London Grammar, Tom OdellLondon Grammar produced one of the most beautiful albums of last year with If You Wait but as this award is voted for by listeners of Radio 1, it will inevitably go to the act with the biggest fan base. Step forward the unfathomably successful Bastille.Who Will Win: Bastille Who Should Win: London GrammarBritish SingleBastille ("Pompeii"), Calvin Harris ("I Need Your Love"), Disclosure ("White Noise"), Ellie Goulding ("Burn"), John Newman ("Love Me Again"), Naughty Boy ("La La La"), One Direction ("One Way Or Another/Teenage Kicks"), Passenger ("Let Her Go"), Rudimental ("Waiting All Night")Bar Passenger's contrived snoozefest, this isn't a bad list of the best-selling singles of the last year. Again voted for by the public, One Direction will inevitably walk away with the award. But it's a shame that it'll be for their karaoke mash-up of Blondie's "One Way Or Another"/The Undertones' "Teenage Kicks" rather than the far superior "Story Of My Life."Who Will Win: One DirectionWho Should Win: Naughty BoyBritish Album of the YearArctic Monkeys (AM), Bastille (Bad Blood), David Bowie (The Next Day), Disclosure (Settle), Rudimental (Home)A welcome departure from the bombastic EDM favoured by the likes of Guetta et al, Disclosure's Settle was the album that 2013 needed. But following the return-to-form of AM, BRITs favorites Arctic Monkeys will probably pick up the second and arguably the most coveted award of the night.Who Will Win: Arctic MonkeysWho Should Win: DisclosureInternational Male Solo ArtistBruno Mars, Drake, Eminem, John Grant, Justin TimberlakePossibly the biggest snub of the awards is the lack of Kanye West, who like his former touring partner Jay-Z, has been entirely ignored in favour of Justin Timberlake's two bloated and self-indulgent comeback albums and Eminem's regressive Marshall Mathers sequel. More encouraging is this year's most leftfield nominee John Grant, but with Bruno Mars set to perform on the night, this category will only go one way.Who Will Win: Bruno MarsWho Should Win: John GrantInternational Female Solo ArtistJanelle Monae, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Lorde, PinkSuggesting the BRITs panel aren't too keen on the whole twerking phenomenon, Miley Cyrus is another major omission here. Lorde might be worth an outside bet but currently the most bankable pop star on the planet, Katy Perry will probably reign supreme.Who Will Win: Katy PerryWho Should Win: Janelle MonaeInternational GroupArcade Fire, Daft Punk, Haim, Kings Of Leon, Macklemore &amp; Ryan LewisIf there was an award for Best International Single, Daft Punk would run away with it. But despite the mixed reaction to their last album, the BRITs are more likely to favour Kings of Leon than any of the more adventurous names on the list.Who Will Win: Kings Of LeonWho Should Win: Haim
Follow @Hollywood_com
//

ABC
Look. We know you love Scandal. We know you kind of want to be Olivia Pope. And we get that your Christmas wish list consisted of mainly Scandal-related paraphernalia. But the ABC drama series, now in the midst of a pretty epic third season, is a dangerous show to get addicted to, especially if you've been taking any relationship cues from the main characters. We love these guys, but here are a few Scandal folks you probably, definitely, should not call if you need some healthy advice on love.
Abby Whelan
Abby (played by Darby Stanchfield) has put her boyfriend through the ringer so many times, it's sad. Poor David Rosen can't get a break, with Abby stealing Cytron cards from him, lying to him to cover for Olivia Pope &amp; Associates, and asking about a gazillion favors from him now that he's the U.S. Attorney for Washington D.C. Now that the two are open about their job descriptions, Abby and David are a much better couple. But Abby's a Gladiator first, which could prove detrimental to this relationship (again).
Cyrus Beene
Cyrus has done so many horrible, awful, grimey things to his husband James, it's difficult to know where to begin. There was that time he put a hit out on him. That time he got him a baby, just so James would stop working as a journalist and stop dipping into all of Cyrus's political dirt. But all of that paled in comparison to the stunt he pulled this season. If you were ever thinking of getting ahead of your political opponent, probably don't use your husband as sexual bait for that opponent's closeted gay husband. Bad idea.
Fitzgerald Grant
We love Fitz. But seriously. In three seasons we've watched him bounce back and forth between Olivia and his wife Mellie (okay, more Olivia than Mellie), plus there was that Amanda Tanner situation. We know he loves Olivia, but there was that one unforgivable, postcoital conversation they had in which he told Olivia, "I may not be able to control my erections around you, but that doesn’t mean I want you. We are done." Ouch. And no.
Olivia Pope
Olivia herself has openly admitted on the show that she is a hot mess when it comes to love. She's kind of a mistress, kind of not. She dated Senator Davis and pretty much led him on, refusing to tell him that she was totally still in love with the President. Then there was the Jake versus Fitz fiasco (actually, that may still be ongoing). Now don't get us wrong -- this all makes for great television. And this character has had some wonderful, empowering moments on the series. But we think it'll be a while before Olivia finds herself in a drama-free relationship.
Follow @Hollywood_com
Follow @shannonmhouston
//

Lions Gate via Everett Collection
When we last left our heroes, they had conquered all opponents in the 74th Annual Hunger Games, returned home to their newly refurbished living quarters in District 12, and fallen haplessly to the cannibalism of PTSD. And now we're back! Hitching our wagons once again to laconic Katniss Everdeen and her sweet-natured, just-for-the-camera boyfriend Peeta Mellark as they gear up for a second go at the Capitol's killing fields.
But hold your horses — there's a good hour and a half before we step back into the arena. However, the time spent with Katniss and Peeta before the announcement that they'll be competing again for the ceremonial Quarter Quell does not drag. In fact, it's got some of the film franchise's most interesting commentary about celebrity, reality television, and the media so far, well outweighing the merit of The Hunger Games' satire on the subject matter by having Katniss struggle with her responsibilities as Panem's idol. Does she abide by the command of status quo, delighting in the public's applause for her and keeping them complacently saturated with her smiles and curtsies? Or does Katniss hold three fingers high in opposition to the machine into which she has been thrown? It's a quarrel that the real Jennifer Lawrence would handle with a castigation of the media and a joke about sandwiches, or something... but her stakes are, admittedly, much lower. Harvey Weinstein isn't threatening to kill her secret boyfriend.
Through this chapter, Katniss also grapples with a more personal warfare: her devotion to Gale (despite her inability to commit to the idea of love) and her family, her complicated, moralistic affection for Peeta, her remorse over losing Rue, and her agonizing desire to flee the eye of the public and the Capitol. Oftentimes, Katniss' depression and guilty conscience transcends the bounds of sappy. Her soap opera scenes with a soot-covered Gale really push the limits, saved if only by the undeniable grace and charisma of star Lawrence at every step along the way of this film. So it's sappy, but never too sappy.
In fact, Catching Fire is a masterpiece of pushing limits as far as they'll extend before the point of diminishing returns. Director Francis Lawrence maintains an ambiance that lends to emotional investment but never imposes too much realism as to drip into territories of grit. All of Catching Fire lives in a dreamlike state, a stark contrast to Hunger Games' guttural, grimacing quality that robbed it of the life force Suzanne Collins pumped into her first novel.
Once we get to the thunderdome, our engines are effectively revved for the "fun part." Katniss, Peeta, and their array of allies and enemies traverse a nightmare course that seems perfectly suited for a videogame spin-off. At this point, we've spent just enough time with the secondary characters to grow a bit fond of them — deliberately obnoxious Finnick, jarringly provocative Johanna, offbeat geeks Beedee and Wiress — but not quite enough to dissolve the mystery surrounding any of them or their true intentions (which become more and more enigmatic as the film progresses). We only need adhere to Katniss and Peeta once tossed in the pit of doom that is the 75th Hunger Games arena, but finding real characters in the other tributes makes for a far more fun round of extreme manhunt.
But Catching Fire doesn't vie for anything particularly grand. It entertains and engages, having fun with and anchoring weight to its characters and circumstances, but stays within the expected confines of what a Hunger Games movie can be. It's a good one, but without shooting for succinctly interesting or surprising work with Katniss and her relationships or taking a stab at anything but the obvious in terms of sending up the militant tyrannical autocracy, it never even closes in on the possibility of being a great one.
3.5/5
Follow @Michael Arbeiter
//
| Follow @Hollywood_com
//

ABC
There are a lot of things that ABC’s Scandal gets right. Their lead character Olivia Pope (played by Kerry Washington) is practically a lifestyle guru, and the way in which creator Shonda Rhimes works race and racial politics into the drama is also pretty brilliant. Like any good drama there are plenty of complex relationships that drive the storylines; Olivia Pope is in a relationship with President Fitzgerald Grant, and her faithful Gladiators find themselves in all kinds of complications due to love interests who always seem to clash with their professional lives. But there’s one couple in particular that deserves our attention, and that would be the one between Cyrus Beene (Jeff Perry) and James Novak (played by Dan Bucatinsky, who was nominated for a 2013 Emmy for the role).
On the one hand, Cyrus and James are obviously not the first well-written gay couple on television. But they are different. Cyrus is, for one, a villain of sorts. He’s the White House Chief of Staff and the President’s right-hand man. He’s an admitted political animal, a monster even; he’s terrifying and brutal, and he’s totally in love with his husband. But because James is a correspondent for the White House – and constantly looking for the very truths that his husband is constantly trying to cover up – their relationship is beyond complicated. In one unforgettable second season episode Cyrus literally puts a hit out on his hubby, in an attempt to keep a very damaging story about rigged votes from becoming public. Don’t worry -- they work it out in the end, but it's all very intense, to say the least.
Shonda Rhimes handles the relationship between Cyrus and James in a way that is similar to her treatment of Olivia and Fitz. For her two main characters, the interracial aspect of their love affair is not where the complication lies, although it is a fact. And for Cyrus and James, their attempts to live and love together in a predominantly heterosexual environment is sometimes an issue, but also not the source of the drama. As a result, they cease to be ‘the gay couple’ on the show and become, rather, one of our favorite couples to watch. As the third season takes off and the couple continues to work out their issues (with a new baby on board, no less), we can’t wait to see where Cyrus and James take the ever-exciting series that is Scandal.
Follow @Hollywood_com
//

After Dark Films
It seems a bit odd to take on a movie review of Courtney Solomon's Getaway, as only in the loosest terms is Getaway actually a movie. We begin without questions — other than a vague and frustrating "What the hell is going on?" — and end without answers, watching Ethan Hawke drive his car into things (and people) for the hour and a half in between. We learn very little along the way, probed to engage in the mystery of the journey. But we don't, because there's no reason to.
There's not a single reason to wonder about any of the things that happen to Hawke's former racecar driver/reformed criminal — forced to carry out a series of felonious commands by a mysterious stranger who is holding his wife hostage — because there doesn't seem to be a single ounce of thought poured into him beyond what he see. We learn, via exposition delivered by him to gun-toting computer whiz Selena Gomez, that he "did some bad things" before meeting the love of his life and deciding to put that all behind him. Then, we stop learning. We stop thinking. We start crashing into police cars and Christmas trees and power plants.
Why is Selena Gomez along for the ride? Well, the beginnings of her involvement are defensible: Hawke is carrying out his slew of vehicular crimes in a stolen car. It's her car. And she's on a rampage to get it back. But unaware of what she's getting herself into, Gomez confronts an idling Hawke with a gun, is yanked into the automobile, and forced to sit shotgun while the rest of the driver's "assignments" are carried out. But her willingness to stick by Hawke after hearing his story is ludicrous. Their immediate bickering falls closer to catty sexual tension than it does to genuine derision and fear (you know, the sort of feelings you'd have for someone who held you up or forced you into accessorizing a buffet of life-threatening crimes).
After Dark Films
The "gradual" reversal of their relationship is treated like something we should root for. But with so little meat packed into either character, the interwoven scenes of Hawke and Gomez warming up to each other and becoming a team in the quest to save the former's wife serve more than anything else as a breather from all the grotesque, impatient, deliberately unappealing scenes of city wreckage.
And as far as consolidating the mystery, the film isn't interested in that either, as evidenced by its final moments. Instead of pressing focus on the answers to whatever questions we may have, the movie's ultimate reveal is so weak, unsubstantial, and entirely disconnected to the story entirely, that it seems almost offensive to whatever semblance of a film might exist here to go out on this note. Offensive to the idea of film and story in general, as a matter of fact. But Getaway isn't concerned with these notions. Not with story, character, logic, or humanity. It just wants to show us a bunch of car crashes and explosions. So you'd think it might have at least made those look a little better.
1/5
More Reviews:'The Hunt' Is Frustrating and Fantastic'You're Next' Amuses and Occasionally Scares'Short Term 12' Is Real and Miraculous
Follow @Michael Arbeiter
//
| Follow @Hollywood_com
//
From Our Partners:40 Most Revealing See-Through Red Carpet Looks (Vh1)15 Stars Share Secrets of their Sex Lives (Celebuzz)

It's official: Britney Spears has a new song, and it's totally smurftastic. The pop singer has just released "Ooh La La," which will be on the soundtrack of the upcoming sequel Smurfs 2. Whilel we may have said a couple of things about it when it was leaked, this time the song is legally available for listeners everywhere. Check it out:
While "Ooh La La" is fairly catchy, it pretty much sounds like every other Britney Spears song we've heard. In fact, it takes that repetitiveness a step further. The song is more like four songs, each encompassing a different side of Britney's music. In the verses, we have her classic dancey pop set against a bouncing beat. In the pre-chorus, Britney channels hip-hop as she tries her hand at a sort of rap-sing style. The chorus is a return to young Britney's high-pitched, sugary sound. Finally, in the bridge, the song takes a techno/dubstep turn, showing us that the pop star can adapt to music.
The song is a bit disjointed in its attempt to appease fans of all of her musical incarnations. Whether or not it accomplishes that goal, "Ooh La La" is an upbeat little track that we're sure to be hearing on the radio soon enough.
Britney has announced that she is working on her eighth album, but the release date for the new record is unknown. Until that undetermined date arrives, "Ooh La La" will have to fill your Britney void. Smurfs 2 hits theaters on July 31st.
Follow Caroline on Twitter @carolinesb | Follow Hollywood.com on Twitter @Hollywood_com
More:Listen to the Leaked Britney Spears Song 'Ooh La La' from 'Smurfs 2'Will We Ever Stop Obsessing About Britney Spears' Body?Smurfs 2': Katy Perry Discovers Her Naughty Smurf — Trailer
From Our PartnersStars Pose Naked for 'Allure' (Celebuzz)Let’s Translate Walter White, Taylor Swift and More into Dothraki (Vulture)